Knitting machine



y 1935. w. J. KURDT El AL 2,007,573

KNITTING MACHINE Filed June 20, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2r 1 1221? i 1? fl g- 15 a 24 16- I 26 Z 25 H 14 a 1 VEN RJ y 1935. w. J. KURDT El AL 2,007,573

KNITTING MACHINE Filed June 20, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 12 |||r |11||||| llllllllllll/ lllll| nr/lhr Patented July 9, 1935 PATENT OFFICE William J. Kurdt, Brooklyn, and Vincent Lombardi, Garden City, N. Y., assignors to Lombardi Knitting Machine 00., Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 20, 1934, Serial No. 731,394

19 Claims.

This invention relates to knitting machines, and particularly to knitting machines adapted for selective operation.

In general, it is an object of the invention to provide a knitting machine of extreme simplicity whereby a wide variety of pleasing designs may readily be produced.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide mechanism whereby needles or other knitting elements may be positioned in a predetermined manner for the performance of a desired type of knitting operations, but wherein the use of complicated setting mechanism is avoided.

A further object is the provision of a knitting machine of the character under consideration which is economical of manufacture and assembly, wherein likelihood of breakage of the fragile parts is minimized, and which will efiiciently accomplish the purposes for which it is intended.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: 7

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through portion of one side of a knitting machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic showing of a portion of the side of the knitting machine;

Fig. 3 is an expanded showing of the cam track extending about the rotary element of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view along the line 4-4 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view along the line 55 in Fig. 4; V

Fig. 6 is a similar view wherein the rotary element is in another position with respect to the needle bed.

Fig. 7 is a top view of the rotatable pattern element shown in Fig. l; i

Fig. 8 is a somewhat diagrammatic top view of the machine;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating a modified form; and

Fig. 10 is a somewhat diagrammatic expanded side view illustrating the operation of a device such as shown in Fig. 9.

The production of knitted fabrics embodying numerous design efiects has commonly involved the use of a knitting machine of a highly complicated nature. Not only are such machines expensive to manufacture, but for the most part 6 they involve large numbers of parts which may get out of order, and numerous fragile parts which are so positioned as to be subject to breakage.

With the foregoing and other dimculties in 10 mind, the present invention contemplates the provision of a simple, sturdy and permanent mechanism which is adapted to produce a wide variety of designs with no attention except for a re-setting of the removable parts when a new 1 design is to be produced, and which may be readily utilized in fine-gage machines. In accordance with the invention there may be provided a series of knitting elements and rotary means movable relative to the series of elements and adapted to act directly upon desired elements in the series to effectuate a desired positioning. The knitting elements acted upon may be needles, sinkers, jacks, or other elements which it is desired to set. V

In the embodiment of the invention, exemplified in Figs. 1 through 8, there is provided a needle bed It which, in the present instance, is cylindrical in form and may be mounted on a stationary base. The needle cylinder is formed with a series of slots ll about its periphery, and in each slot there is disposed a knitting element II. For the sake of facility of description, these. knitting elements are exemplified in the form of latch needles, but as above indicated they may be of any other desired character. The actuating mechanism is mounted on a member l3. This member and the needle bed are mounted for relative movement. For instance, when the needle bed "I is a stationary cylinder the member I3 may be a revolving annulus. On the member l3 there are mounted any desired number of rotary pattern elements ll. The pattern element H exemplifled in Fig. 1 is mounted for rotation on a shaft I! as it revolves about the cylinder, the rotation being caused, in the present instance, by the reception of needle-butts It in slots I! of the rotary element.

The slots H are designed to hold actuator members I! arranged to act upon the butts I6 to set individual needles as the rotation of the rotary element brings an actuator into alignment therewith. In order to control the movement of the actuators, there are provided means carried by the member l3, providing cam tracks. This means consists in the present instance of an annular casing is for the rotary element l4. The casing I9 is formed with cam grooves 23 and 2i at its inner surface. As will be observed, the actuators are of two characters,one, as shown at 22, having a butt indicated at 23 engaging the cam groove 20, and the other, as shown at 24, having a butt indicated at 25 engaging the cam groove 2!. The cam groove 23 is formed with a downwardly-extending portion 23 adjacent the periphery of the needle cylinder, and the cam groove 2| is formed with an upwardly-extending portion 29 at this point. Each actuator of the character shown at 22 also is formed with a butt 26 adapted to engage the lower side of the needle butt I6, and each actuator of the character shown at 24 is provided with a butt 21 adapted to engage the upper side of the butt it, the butts 2t-2'I thus providing selective configurations. It will accordingly be seen that if the butts it are in a central position, a needle will be raised if an actuator of the character shown at 22 is brought into proximity therewith, but will be lowered if an actuator of the character shown at 24 is brought into proximity therewith.

In order to bring all of the butts it into a central position, there is provided an aligning cam 30 which, in the present instance, is afllxed to the casing portion I9. As will be seen from Fig. 2, the cam 30 is arranged to bring all the needles into an intermediate or tucking position. From this position certain needles may be moved upwardly into a knitting position by actuators as shown at 22, other needles may be moved downwardly into a yarn-passing position by actuators as shown at 24, and still other needles may be left in tucking position when those of the slots II which are aligned, respectively, with their butts l6 contain no actuator. Thus a wide variety of pleasing designs may be produced by suitable selective positioning of the actuators in various desired ones of the slots II. The knitting operation is performed by a stitch cam 3| which, in the present instance, is likewise ailixed to the casing portion I9.

As will be apparent, cam tracks may be provided in any suitable position. In order, however, to avoid the necessity of utilizing two types of actuator members, the cam grooves 20 and 2| are provided respectively above and below the line of butts l6, and the distance of the cam tracks from the center of a butt l6 riding on to the top point of the cam 30 is made similar. As will be observed, those actuators l8 indicated at 22 and 24, are exactly similar in construction. The difference in character of the actuators is provided by reversing their position so that the butt of an actuator as shown at 22 will be in the upper cam track and the butt of a member as shown at 24 will be in a lower cam track. This enables an operator in resetting the actuators for a change in design to merely place the same actuators in the desired positions, and avoids danger of such positioning of an actuator as will tend to cause breakage of a butt It. To further avoid any possibility of breakage, there is provided a cam portion 32 extending into proximity with the upper portion of the cam 30, this portion being positioned so that each butt It will be prevented from upward or downward movement as the butt on an actuator moves above or below the same. No pull on the fabric or jarring of the machine can displace the butts l6 at this point. The cam portion 32 is integral with the cam 3i, in the present instance. As will be observed by reference to Fig.

4, the butts shown at a and 21 willenter below or above the butts II, as the case may be, just after the butts I reach the point where they are guided between the portion 32 and the topmost point on the cam 30. Accordingly there is no possibility of lateral contact of the butts, and consequent breakage.

In order to permit the selective arrangement of the actuators to be readily altered from time to time, the rotatable pattern element is is mounted on a base 33 which is removably secured to the annulus i3 by means of a screw 34, and a portion 35 of the casing I9 is separably mounted so as to permit access to the rotatable pattern element for the removal and/or insertion of actuators of a particular character. In the present instance, the portion 35 is hingedly connected with the remainder of the casing I! by means of a hinge 38 and a screw 31 so that upon release of the screw the portion 35 may be swung outwardly. As will be apparent, when the portion 35 is swung outwardly actuators adjacent this portion may be removed and actuators may be inserted in the slots at this point, and when the base 33 is removed the rotatable pattern element 14 may be turned to bring its entire periphery, one portion at a time, to a position wherein the slots are accessible. In order to facilitate the insertion of actuators, the cam grooves 20 and 2| are formed with widened portions 38 in the portion 35 of the casing. As will be seen, the provision of a new selective setting of actuators in one or more rotary pattern elements is a procedure of tremendously greater simplicity than the re-setting of needles about a needle cylinder. If desired, one or more extra pattern-element units may be provided and the desired settings for a succeeding pattern set up in these while other pattern-element units are being utilized in the machine. Also, if desired, the pattern produced by the machine may be altered from time to time by the addition or removal of certain pattern-element units. For instance, in a machine utilizing four rotatable pattern elements, as indicated in Fig. 8, if the arrangement of these is such as to produce interlock fabric, the removal of the two which do not cause the stitching will permit the machine to knit rows of jersey cloth, whereupon additional rows of interlock fabric may be produced by the re-insertion of the two pattern elements which were removed.

Complete disassembly of a pattern element may be had by the removal of a nut 39.

In Figs. 9 and 10 there is shown an arrangement wherein the actuators of different character are utilized to move knitting elements in a single direction but to different extents. As exemplified, there is provided a needle cylinder Illa in the slots Ila of which there are carried knitting elements 12a. Rotatable within a revoluble casing N11 is a pattern element I4a provided with slots Ila adapted to receive butts Iia on the knitting elements and to have actuators I8a disposed therein. In the present instance, actuators lid of multiplicity of diflerent lengths (three, as exemplified,) are provided, these being shown respectively at 40, 4i and 42. The casing member l9a is formed with a cam track 43 which guides these actuators and is formed with a cam surface 44 which acts to advance the actuators Ito and the knitting elements with them. As will be seen, the actuator 4| is shorter than the actuator 42, and the actuator is still shorter. Thus the action of the cam 44 on an actuator such as shown at 40 will result in merely advancing a knitting element from a line a to the line b, whereas its action on an actuator ll will result in advancing a knitting element from the line a to the line 0, and its action on an actuator fl-w'ill result in advancing a knitting element from the line a to the line d. Where no actuator is provided the knitting element will not be moved. The butts |6a are aligned by cam surfaces 45 and 46 and are retracted, as for stitching, by a cam surface 41, the two surfaces preferably forming a part of the cam element ,which is secured to the casing l9a. Portions of the surfaces 45 and 5 are formed to assure that the butts Ilia will be held against movement as the actuators move under them. g

The actuators l8a are held in the slots by means of a band 49 secured to the body of the easing by lugs 50. In order to permit ready removal of the actuators for resetting, a portion 35a of the casing, carrying a separable portion 5| of the band 49 by means of lugs 52 may be separably mounted .in a manner similar to the portion 35 of the casing l9. As will be apparent, the provision of a new selective arrangement of actuators l8a is a matter of the utmost simplicity.

As will be seen, there may be provided in accordance with the invention a knitting machine of a high'degree of simplicity which can nevertheless be arranged with the utmost ease for the production of fabrics embodying a wide variety of different designs. The invention is well adapted for selective operation of fine-gage machines, since the entire effective actuation of the elements carried by the needle bed is ina direction longitudinal of the slots in which they are carried. The invention also avoids the danger of breakage which ordinarily occurs, particularly in fine-gage machines, where separating cams are utilized. It is to be noted in this. connection that the invention permits separation of knitting elements by very small distance; whereas in a machine utilizing separating cams the minimum separation possible is a separation greater than the width of the butts on the knitting elements. At the same time, the invention permits knittingelement movements of a considerable distance to be readily obtained. In instances where relatively large movements are desirable,-as, for example, where surety of manipulating a yarn by a latched needle is of particular importance, where spring needles are to be moved longitudinally for interlocking operations, where sinkers are to be advanced extraordinary distances, etc.,--results may thus be obtained which are in marked contrast to the usual pattern-wheel machine wherein the pattern wheel gives merely selective positioning and wherein cams are required'to give the full movement sufiicient for knitting. As above indicated, an important feature of the invention is the elimination of the necessity for the use of separting cams. When such cams are used there is danger of breakage where the pull of the fabric or other factor causes a misalignment of the butt of a knitting element so that it contacts with the point of the cam.

Since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

. Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement, said rotary pattern element being formed with an annular series of actuator-receiving portions movable successively adjacent to said bed by the rotation of the rotary element and adapted to hem parallelism with the line of movement of a knitting element when adjacent to said bed, actuator members of a plurality of diflerent characters selectively disposed in said receiving portions and each arranged to directly impart sliding movement to a knitting element when moved along the receiving portion while adjacent to said had, and means forming a part of said actuator means to cause a. movement of each actuator member of one character and a knitting element with it in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed and to cause a different movement of each actuator member of another character and a knitting element with it in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed.

2. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the actuator members are removably retained in said receiving portions to permit different selective arrangements of actuator members to be provided from time to time.

3. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed,

element when adjacent to said bed, actuator members of a plurality of different characters selectively disposed in said receiving portions and each arranged to directly impart sliding movement to a knitting element when moved along the receiving portion while adjacent to said bed, and means forming a part of said actuator means to cause a movement in one direction of each actuator member of one character and a knitting element with it in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed and to cause a movement in the opposite direction of each actuator member of another character and a knitting element with it in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed.

4. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movedifferent characters selectively disposed for sliding movement in said receiving portions, and means forming a part of said actuator means and providing a pair of cam tracks for causing respectively actuations of actuator members or one character and knitting elements with them and different actuations of actuator members of another character and knitting elements with them.

5. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in responseto said relative movement, said rotary pattern element being formedwith an annular series of actuator-receiving portions adapted to be moved adjacent said bed to aposition in parallelism with the line of movement of a knitting element, actuator members of a plurality of diiferent characters selectively disposed ior'sliding movement in said receiving portions, and means forming a part of said actuator means and providing a pair of cam tracks for causing respectively actuations of actuator members of one character and knitting elements with them and different actuations of actuator members of another character and knitting elements with them, said actuations being in said line of movement and said actuator members being removably retained in said receiving portions to permit different selective arrangements of actuator members to be provided from time to time.

6. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series oi! knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to saidrelative movement, said rotary pattern element being formed with an annular series of actuator-receiving portions adapted to be moved adjacent said bed to a position in parallelism with the line of movement of a knitting element, actuator members of a plurality of difierent characters selectively disposed for sliding movement in said receiving portions, and means forming-a part of said actuator means and providing a pair of cam tracks for causing, respectively, actuations in one direction of actuated members of one character and knitting elements with them, and actuations in another direction of actuator members of another character and knitting elements with them, said actuator members being identical in shape, with the difierence in character thereof provided by reversing their position.

7. A knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, a series of needles slidably arranged about said cylinder, a rotating pattern element arranged to revolve about said cylinder and to rotate in response to said revolution, said rotary pattern elementbeing formed with an annular series of actuator-receiving portions extending parallel to the axis of revolution, actuator members of a plurality of different characters selectively and removably disposed in said receiving portions; and means providing a plurality of cam tracks for causing, respectively, actuations' in one direction of actuator members of one character and needles with them, and actuations in another direction of actuator members of another character and needles with them.

8. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed,

a series 01. knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said needle bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged ior rotation in response to said relative movement, means also forming a part of said actuator means and surrounding said rotary element and providing a plurality of cam tracks, said rotary pattern element being provided with an annular series of actuator-receiving portions, and actuator members selectively disposed in certain of said receiving portions and arranged to impart longitudinal movement to knitting elements in response to the rotation of said rotary pattern member, certain of said actuator members being arranged to be guided by one of said tracks and others of said actuators being arranged to be guided by the other of said tracks.

9. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said needle bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement, means also forming a part of said actuator means and surrounding said rotary element and providing a plurality of cam tracks, said rotary pattern element being provided with an annular series of actuator receiving portions extending in the line of movement of the knitting elements, actuator members in certain of said receiving portions arranged to have longitudinal movement-imparted thereto by one of said tracks so as to move knitting elements in one direction when adjacent the same, and actuator members arranged to have longitudinal movement imparted thereto by the other of said tracks so as to move knitting elements in the other direction when adjacent the same.

10. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said needle bed being mounted for relative movement a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement, means also forming a part of said actuator means and surrounding said rotary element and providing a plurality of cam tracks, said rotary pattern element being provided with an annular series of actuator-receiving portions extending in the line of movement of the knitting elements, actuator members in certain of said receiving portions arranged to have longitudinal movement im-' parted thereto by one of said tracks so as to move knitting elements in one direction when adjacent the same, and actuator members arranged to have longitudinal movement imparted thereto by the other of said tracks so as to move knitting elements in the other direction when adjacent the same, and certain of said receiving portions being without actuators.

11. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted Iorrelative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement, means surrounding said rotary element and providing a pair of circular cam tracks and actuator members of different characters selectively and removably disposed about said rotary element and guided, respectively, by said cam tracks and arranged to impart directly to individual ones of said knitting elements movements imparted thereto by their respective cam track.

12., A pattern mechanism for a knitting machine comprising a rotary pattern element, a member surrounding said pattern element, and providing a plurality of circular cam tracks, and a plurality of actuator members 01 different character carried by said rotary pattern element, actuator members of one character being guided by one of said circular tracks, and actuator members of another character being guided by another of said circular tracks.

13. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement said rotary pattern element being formed with an annular series of actuator-receiving portions movable successively adjacent to said bed by the rotation of the rotary element and adapted to lie in parallelism with the line of movement of a knitting element when adjacent to. said bed, actuator members of a plurality of different lengths selectively disposed in said receiving portions and each arranged to directly impart sliding movement to a knitting element when moved along the receiving portion while adjacent to said bed and means forming a part of said actuator means to cause a movement of one extent of each actuator member of one length and a knitting element with it in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed and to cause a movement of a different extent of each actuator member of another length and knitting element with it in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed.

14. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming apart of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement, said rotary pattern element being formed with an annular series of actuator-receiving portions movable successively adjacent to said bed by the rotation of the rotary element and adapted to lie in parallelism with the line of movement of a knitting element when adjacent to said bed, actuator members of a multiplicity of different characters selectively disposed in said receiving portions and each arranged to directly impart sliding movement to a knitting element when moved along the receiving portion while adjacent to said bed, and means forming a part of said actuator means to cause a movement of each actuator member of one character and a knitting element with it in said line of movement each time it is adjacent-to said bed and to' cause a difierent movement of each actuator member of another character and a knitting element with it in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed and to cause a still different movement of each actuator element of a further character and a knitting element with it each time it is adjacent to said bed.

15. A knitting machine comprising a needle bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said-relative movement, means also forming a part of said actuator means and surrounding said rotatable pattern element and formed with a cam track, said rotary pattern element being provided with a series of annular actuator-receiving portions, and actuator members of different length selectively slidably disposed longitudinally in certain of said receiving portions, the width of said track being sufficient to accommodate the longest of said actuator members; and cam means to bring one end of said actuator members to a predetermined level and at the same time to impart to various of said knitting elements an advance of a greater or less extent depending upon the provision of an'actuator member of a given length.

16. A knitting machine comprising a bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement, said rotary pattern element being formed with an annular series of actuator receiving portions movable successively adjacent to said bed by the rotation of the rotary element and adapted to lie in parallelism with the line of movement of a knitting element when adjacent to said bed, actuator members selectively disposed in at least certain of said receiving portions to be eflective at different levels and each arranged to directly impart sliding movement to a knitting element when adjacent to said bed, an actuator member at one level acting to impart a movement of one character to a knitting element in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed, and an actuator member at another level acting to impart a movement of another character to a knitting element in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed.

1'1. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 16 wherein the actuator members are removably retained in said receiving portions to permit different selective arrangements of actuator members to be provided from time to time.

18. A knitting machine comprising a bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement, said rotary pattern element being formed with an annular se ries of actuator receiving portions movable successively adjacent to said bed by the rotation of the rotary element and adapted to lie in parallelism with the line of movement of a knitting element when adjacent to said bed, actuator members selectively disposed in at least certain of said receiving portions to be effective at different levels and each arranged to directly impart sliding movement to a knitting element when adjacent to said bed, an actuator member at one level acting to impart a movement of one extent to a knitting element in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed, and an actuator member at another level acting to impart a movement of another extent to a knitting element in said line of movement each time it is adjacent to said bed.

19. A knitting machine comprising a bed, a series of knitting elements slidably carried by said bed, actuator means, said actuator means and said bed being mounted for relative movement, a rotary pattern element forming a part of said actuator means and arranged for rotation in response to said relative movement, said rotary pattern element being formed with an annular series of actuator receiving portions movable successively adjacent to said bed by the rotation of the rotary element and adapted to lie in parallelism with the line of movement of a knitting element when adjacent to said bed, actuator members selectively disposed in at least certain 01 said receiving portions to be eflective at a multiplicity of different levels and each arranged to directly impart sliding movement to a knitting element when adjacent to said bed, an actuator in said line of movement each time it is adjacent 10 to said bed.

WILLIAM J. KURDT. VINCENT LOMBARDI. 

